High School Girls Water Polo: Seven area schools qualify for playoffs

Seven area schools qualified for the CIF-Southern Section girls water polo playoffs that start this week. Pairings were announced Sunday and feature seven divisions.

The Division 4 field includes five area teams: La Serna, California, Whittier, El Rancho and La Habra.

La Serna (18-10 overall), the Del Rio League champion with a 5-0 record, will host Temple City (17-12) in a first-round game scheduled for Thursday. The visiting Rams, the Rio Hondo League's second-place team, take on a Lancers squad that drew the No. 4 seed.

California (16-7), which went 3-2 in the Del Rio League, also drew a Thursday first-round match at Freeway League champion Troy (21-8), which is the No. 2 seed.

"We're really happy to make the tournament," California coach Jeff Boline said. "The last three years, we made it to the wild-card round and had to advance from there. It's nice to get an automatic bid (into the first round)."

Whittier (8-19, 3-2) will start its postseason run in Tuesday's wild-card round with a home game against Buena Park (14-12), an at-large entry from the Freeway League. The winner will visit top-seeded Bonita (21-7) for a first-round game on Thursday.

El Rancho and La Habra also are scheduled for Tuesday wild-card matches.

La Habra (17-13), the Freeway League's third-place team, will host Capistrano Valley (17-11), an at-large entry from the Sea View League. The Highlanders were ranked No. 9 in the final regular-season Division 4 poll. The winner will travel to South Pasadena (13-8) for a Thursday first-round match.

El Rancho (11-9, 3-2), an at-large entry from the Del Rio League, will visit Rio Mesa (18-11), which finished second in the Pacific View League.

Almont League champion Montebello (19-8) drew a first-round bye and will start its playoff run with Thursday's second-round game against either Rosary (12-13) or Norco (17-6). The Oilers were ranked No. 6 in the final Division 2 poll.

Schurr (16-8) will be on the road for its Tuesday first-round match against Dana Hills (16-13), the South Coast League's second-place team. Dana Hills is ranked No. 10 in Division 2.

All games are scheduled to start at 5 p.m. Times are subject to change.